Aaron Hernandez indicted on 2012 double-murder charge

Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been indicted for a double murder that occurred in Boston nearly two years ago.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley held a news conference Thursday morning to discuss the indictment handed down by a Grand Jury.

Hernandez is already in jail on charges stemming from the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player from the Boston area who was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.

Hernandez and two other men are accused of shooting Lloyd in a North Attleboro, Massachusetts industrial park. A jogger found Lloyd's body on June 17, 2013.

Soon after the Lloyd shooting, multiple media outlets, including FOX 25 in Boston, reported that Hernandez was being investigated in connection with a July 2012 double homicide in Boston.

Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were killed in a drive-by shooting on July 16, 2012.

Conley, on Thursday, gave some details into the investigation of Hernandez.

The district attorney said a "chance encounter" at a Boston nightclub "triggered a series of events that culminated in these murders."

Conley said Hernandez and the two victims arrived at the club at approximately the same time. He would not go into details about what might have transpired in the club, but said the two victims left the club and were unknowingly followed by Hernandez.

The victims' car was stopped at a red light, Conley continued, and Hernandez's SUV pulled up alongside. Hernandez fired a .38 caliber revolver multiple times into the passenger side of the victims' vehicle.

Conley said three others were in the victims' car -- two backseat passengers were able to escape and fled on foot while another suffered a gunshot wound to the eye.

"We are confident that Aaron Hernandez is the shooter and took the lives of the two victims," said Conley.

The DA said the nearly two-year investigation featured testimony from more than two dozen witnesses and was never about Hernandez, a star tight end for the Patriots at the time of the shooting.

"This case was not about Aaron Hernandez," Conley added. "This case was about two victims, who were stalked, ambushed and killed on the streets they call home."

Conley said Hernandez's cousin, Tanya Singleton, was indicted on a charge of criminal contempt of court.

The SUV police believed was used in the shooting was found in Singleton's garage in Bristol, Connecticut. Conley said Singleton was offered immunity in exchange for certain information, but she refused to testify.

Hernandez, on Thursday, was also indicted on three counts of armed assault with intent to murder and one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Conley said an arraignment on the charges will be scheduled for a later date.

Hernandez, who had signed a $40 million contract with the Patriots just months after the Boston double murders, was released by New England just hours after he was arrested for the Lloyd murder.